Paint- The Joys & Sorrows

Hey, ya'll!

Paint. When you hear/see that word, what do you think of? An endless possibility of color? A total pain? Overwhelming options? Excitement over the next project you've got planned?

According to industry professionals, you should pick a paint color based on your inspiration for a room, not based on what looks best under the {amazing} lighting at your local Lowe's. Also, there is a general recommendation that you pick a color based on an item that you plan to put into the room- if you have selected fabric for your new sofa, build your paint color around it! If the idea of choosing color leaves you with lots of anxiety and you have the resources to do so, you can also hire a professional colorist... they exist!!

Anyway, I digress. I had the opportunity to go through the color conundrum myself while picking colors for the den. When our house was built, wood paneling was IN, IN, IN and honey, it is everywhere in that house!! Thankfully, the paneling is beautiful and sophisticated and adds a ton of unique detail and depth to what might have been an otherwise boring room. For 34 years not one speck of paint was put on these gorgeous wood details, and trust me when I say that I had a panic attack or two over covering the walls with paint. What if the paint goes against the personality of the house? What if I hate it? What if I spend all of these resources covering this gorgeous wood with paint... and want WOOD again? *cue panic attack and all sorts of doubt!!!* Just to give you a visual of what I'm talking about, this is the den at selling time.

Wood paneling, EVERYWHERE. So beautiful, but so BROWN! I knew, deep in my heart, it had to be painted. I couldn't live with it like this forever. I wanted to be able to, but just couldn't. So... after several weeks of living in the brown just to be absolutely sure... I took the plunge. I told my amazing father-in-law, who has done ALL of the painting in our home, to go for it. Prime a wall and let's get some color in here! yeek! 

I knew I made the right choice when I saw the primer going up. The wood details were still there, but the room exploded with opportunity for personality. 

The magnificent painter himself!! 

Tester colors

So, here's where I reveal that I am completely human and not in any way perfect when it comes to choosing color. I made my father-in-law (FIL) give me a few testers. Four, to be exact. He painted them in nice healthy swatches on a wall and gave me time to make my carefully thought out selection. I asked friends. I asked my husband. I asked my mom. I asked my dog. I asked myself! And finally, I PICKED A COLOR. Benjamin Moore- Silver Gray. I was so excited to see it on the wall... it was going to be perfect and beautiful and make my life complete. Right?? Below is what I came home to. 

Wait... what? 

See that prominent glass of wine in the picture? (Love me some CB2, ya'll!!) I needed it. I walked into the house and my heart sank. The color is gorgeous, but I want this room to be a place where I welcome friends and family and I wanted the color to encourage them to sit, relax and take a load off. The first thing I thought when I walked into the room and saw this color was... nursery. Beautiful, but just not the message I wanted this room to send. 

So, I cried, texted a confidant, asked her opinion, talked to my sweet husband, figured out a plan B, and picked a new color. This time, we went with a color called Rockport Gray. I saw it on the color chart and said to myself, "This is the color. You will like it. It will be THE color you wished for." 

I told my FIL and he, of course, made my second dream a reality. As a result, this is what we ended up with. This is an iphone picture that does not do the color justice... to me it looks like army green in this picture. In reality, it is a rich color that makes you just stop a little when you walk into the room. I've gotten several questions asking: "Is it gray? Is it sage? What color IS it?"

Let's keep it real- this was two months after being in the house! 

To give you a more realistic idea, this is the color from the Benjamin Moore website.

The beauty of paint is that it really does look very different under different lighting. This color changes personality with the time of day and with the amount of lighting placed on it. It has this quality of making you feel a bit enveloped in it- calm and serene during the day and warm and inviting at night. 

In the interest of keeping it real, I'll be showing you in-progress pictures as we go- none of our rooms are fully complete with decor and accessories and I want you to see the work in progress! So, there it is- our den as it stands. Till next time...

Cheers! 

Returning from a LONG hiatus... plus news that you've probably already heard!

Hi all,

Didya miss me? Didya, didya? Well, after taking a long, LONG time away (I'm not even sure where the time went... I look up and it's over a year later!), I'm back with some fun news that you may have already heard through c.d.b. design's facebook page, or just by knowing me personally. 

At the end of March of this year, the hubs and I bought a house! How fun! It is a 34 year old home that is gorgeous and perfect for us. The pups has a ton of room to roam around in the backyard and we have plenty of room to spread out and enjoy this new stage in our lives. We decided it was time to buy at what was actually a difficult time to buy- the lack of homes for sale in Texas made house shopping in our area a literal rat race to get a bid in on what felt like any and every house that was remotely decent and in our price range. My parents got a first-row seat to watch the emotional roller coaster that is house hunting, and my mom continued to insist that "Your perfect house is out there- just waiting for you to find it!". Well, I'll be darned if she wasn't exactly right! We stumbled upon a house that was a little more than we planned to spend, but had alot of the unique criteria that we were looking for. We contacted our Realtor, put a bid on the house and never looked back! 

The house is exactly what we were looking for- neither Jason or I particularly wanted a brand new home, but he was more open to the idea than I was. I have always dreamed of a house that had alot of its original character intact, but still had room for me to make it completely our own. So, without further ado, may I present to you- our new home! 

Wanna come over for dinner??

We closed at the end of March and moved in exactly two days later. This house is great enough that we could go ahead and move in and take our time with the projects that have planned to do. Total wood paneling throughout the den and bar? Paint it! Total wood paneling upstairs in the game room and second wet bar? Paint it too!! Questionable carpet in the dining room? Rip it up and give the floor new life! 

Of course, there are many, many projects that we simply don't have the time or money to fix right now, like (carpet in both upstairs bathrooms... huh?), replacing almost ALL of the siding, refinishing both bar counter tops, and replacing the not-as-questionable carpet in the den, so I'll be sharing with you the projects that we can afford to handle now and what we have planned for farther in the future. This is a slow and steady progression of making this house our home and I am so excited to share the journey with you!! 

Thanks for sticking with me, ya'll! See you soon! 

Cheers!

Catrina